Environmental Health and Licensing Enforcement Policy
Pages in Environmental Health and Licensing Enforcement Policy
- 1. Background and introduction
- 2. Objectives of the Enforcement Policy
- 3. The key aspects of the policy
- 4. Prevention and promotion
- 5. Enforcement actions
- 6. Our standards
- 7. You are here: Recovering the cost of enforcement action
- 8. Publicity
- 9. Consultation with customers
- 10. Complaints and appeals
7. Recovering the cost of enforcement action
Wherever possible the Council will seek to recover the full costs of enforcement action from those who were responsible for the contravention. This will include seeking to recover costs following prosecutions, but will also include making a charge for the service of formal enforcement notices, where legislation exists to facilitate this.
This will include making a charge for each notice served under the Housing Act 2004. This process and the level of charge is further detailed in the Reigate and Banstead Borough Council Housing Act 2004 Notice Charging Policy.
Other examples include charging businesses for rescore revisits requested under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, in accordance with powers under the Localism Act 2011.
In certain cases, a financial investigation may be undertaken by the Council’s Accredited Financial Investigator, to determine if action under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 is appropriate following prosecution. The findings of a financial investigation may also be used to inform the decision on whether to pursue enforcement of certain Housing Act 2004 offences by means of prosecution or by means of civil penalties. This is covered further in the Environmental Health Policy on the use of Civil Penalties under the Housing & Planning Act 2016.